Balamb Chronicles pt 2
by Lilith Jade
Summary: Chapter 14 is up. Looks like things are getting a little out of wack for everyone read and review
1. Escape

Disclaimer: I don't own the FF VIII characters. Anyone you don't recognize, those are mine. Have fun and please review. Raven  
  
Escape  
  
To whom this may concern:  
  
The prisoner 42317, Revelation, Genesis N. has escaped from the Atrina Rehabilitation Center on the fourth ring of Saturn. She is armed with very powerful magic and should be considered extremely dangerous. She was last sighted on the transport to Balamb Garden in the Leo Sector. Be advised again, She is armed and extremely dangerous.  
  
Thank you.  
  
*  
  
Seifer whitened visibly as he read the notice. Genesis was free? And complete with magic? He looked at Squall, "Dude, your fucked."  
  
"Me?" He looked puzzled, "What did I do?"  
  
"You scorned her." Seifer said back. Then he looked at the notice again then at his wife, Raven who was standing by the window, looking out.  
  
Squall walked up closer to him and said in his ear, "If I'm in trouble, Raven's top on her list."  
  
"You think I don't know that. I know that." He looked at her then at Squall, "Frankly, I'm scared. Genesis still has her magic and when she gets here she'll still be as powerful as she was before. If not more." Seifer looked at his angrily, "How could you have ever loved her?"  
  
Squall had a look of intense hatred on his face for a second before he looked away and slumped in a chair, "I plead the fifth."  
  
Raven laughed from her place at the window. She walked over and leaned on the chair that Squall had just slumped into. "Poor, poor Squall. Nobody understands you."   
  
Squall gave her a weak smile, noticing the jealousy that flickered across Seifer's blue-green eyes. He didn't want to fight with Seifer when he had something to die for. He rubbed his scar, a souvenir of a Seifer who couldn't, or wouldn't, love and said, "I think ill go downstairs and fight."  
  
He got up and walked over to the elevator, entering and going down to the first floor leaving Seifer and Raven alone. Raven fingered her wedding band and then walked over to Seifer, encircling his neck with his arms and kissing him hard.   
  
"What was that for?" He asked, pulling her close.   
  
"Reassurance." She replied simply as they walked over to the elevator and went down, still hugging. 


	2. Arrival

Disclaimer: I own Raven, Cruel Hero owns Genesis. Squaresoft owns the rest. Read and review. Thank you.   
  
Arrival  
  
Genesis arrived at Balamb City near midnight and having to use a lot of confusion and sleep spells had managed to find herself at the gates of Balamb Garden unscathed.  
  
Now she would wait for her adversaries to come out. Then all hell would break loose.  
  
*  
  
Her chance came a few days later. Seifer, Raven, Squall and Zell left the garden to practice their growing fighting strength with each other. Tomorrow Seifer and Raven would go off and take the SeeD field exam. Once again it was at Dollot, everything being staged, of course. The real SeeDs, Squall, Zell, Selphie and Irvine, would go along and make sure everything went according to plan. Rinoa would stay behind at the garden with Headmaster Trepe.  
  
Seifer and Raven and Squall and Zell went some ways off from each other and starting fighting. Each had a lot of upper level magic and two or three GFs apiece. And each had learned a lot from the others around them in fighting styles. When they became fully immersed in the other's moves, Genesis struck.   
  
What the others didn't know was she had GFs of her own, namely Siren and when she used it, no one really noticed. Then she stepped out into the opening.  
  
Zell was the first one to see her; "Oh fuck!" He said loudly and stumbled.  
  
Genesis laughed as eh got back to his feet. "Hello all."  
  
Squall looked at her with undying hatred. Seifer and Raven ran over at Zell's exclamation and when they saw Genesis their faces became hard with hatred.  
  
Genesis laughed, "Oh, I can see that you all missed me." She flicked her wrist toward them, "Firaga."  
  
All were thrown back by the blast and when they tried to use Curaga, they realized that they were silenced. They all got up, cursing.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" Seifer said, wiping blood from his eyes, "How did she get a GF?"  
  
"I don't know," Squall replied, searching his potions and finding an Echo Screen and using it, the others following suit with either and echo Screen or an Esuna. "But I'm scared to think of how powerful she's become."  
  
Zell, who had Carbuncle quickly summoned it to use Ruby Light, the reflect magic, then they all used Curaga and waited for Genesis's next move.  
  
All she did, though, was laugh. It was startling to see a sorceress laugh over nothing, but she was. Then she used almost lightening quick physical attacks to break down the reflect and use Firaga again before they could do anything, knocking them all out but Zell. He got up and with a futile glance, ran toward the Garden with Blizzara snapping at his heels. 


	3. Trapped

Disclaimer: All FF characters you recognize aren't mine. Raven is though and Genesis is on loan. Don't steal them. thank you.  
  
Trapped  
  
Seifer was the first to awaken. He looked around and seen that Raven and Squall and cursed.   
  
All were hanging from chains buried in a rock wall. the place was dark and had the feeling of a dungeon... or a grave. There were no barred doors or windows anywhere, there was an open space out in front of them riddled with cages of every shape and size.  
  
Then he realized Zell wasn't among them. Even though he hated the Chicken-wuss a lot, he didn't want to think what Genesis had done to him.  
  
Then he heard a moan from his left and Raven opened her eyes slowly. She seemed to have been hit harder than any of them by the blast and had been cut everywhere, blood caking her arms and hair and running down her arms.  
  
"Ra? You okay?" He whispered, his throat cracking with disuse and anger.  
  
"I don't know." Her eyes were half lidded with exhaustion. "Are you?"  
  
"I think so." Seifer looked to his other side, "I think Squall maybe dead though. He looks pretty bad."  
  
Blood oozed down the dark haired boy's face from a long cut across his forehead. His skin was as pale as Raven's but eh still had the energy to reply; "I'm not dead yet. Are you sad?"  
  
Seifer laughed a sardonic laugh that seemed to echo off the bare stone walls, "Sad? Listen to me and listen good you hard headed little bastard, I put all that shit behind me. So drop it, Squall. You are not my enemy anymore. Understand?"  
  
"Yeah," Squall spat, his voice full of fury, "I doubt it."  
  
Seifer was about to retort when the chains opened and dropped them all three nearly five inches to the floor. Quickly he searched his magic for a Curaga and used it on all three.  
  
Then Raven said, "My GFs are gone."  
  
Seifer turned to her, thinking he heard wrong, "huh?"  
  
"Shiva is gone. Leviathan is gone. Eden is gone." She hugged up against him, "How can they be gone if I didn't un-junction them? How...?"  
  
"I don't know." Seifer said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "I really don't know but don't worry. Genesis is finished."  
  
*  
  
It took the group nearly two hours to find a way out of the dungeon. The door was hidden behind a cage set into the wall that held something that looked , to Raven, suspiciously like wolf bones.  
  
They walked down a dark corridor until they came to a door. Seifer cracked it and looked out. Squall, still angry about the remarks spoken earlier, pushed past him aside and walked out the door. All of a sudden he ran back in.  
  
"Whats wrong," Seifer asked irritably, omitting several choice curses.  
  
"I found Leviathan," Squall said, a scared look echoing through his eyes and then quickly departing, "And every other GF but Siren and Eden."  
  
"Huh?" Seifer questioned, "How?"  
  
"She summoned them magically and then chained them magically. She's grown powerful." Squall's eyes widened. "Oh, hell."  
  
"How'd she get Leviathan if I didn't un-junction them?" Raven asked, her usually bright violet eyes clouding with emotion. "And I didn't un-junction them. Ever."  
  
"She's such a fucking trick!" Seifer exclaimed, "Why does she act like this? She doesn't have any real powers. All the magic she has, she acquired through the Draw ability here at Balamb Garden." He stopped suddenly when Raven's face flickered something; "What? What's wrong?"  
  
"Uh...," Raven licked her lips, "Uh, well, she doesn't just carry Balamb magic. She has her own magic. Ares gave it to her along time ago."  
  
Anger, or more like fury, crossed their faces at this remark. Neither one cared much for the Greek God of War who taught them to fight better and more aggressively. He had tried to break Raven and Seifer up when they were at his school in Greece. Everyone thought Raven was Ares's niece when in reality she was his sister and older than she looked.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" Squall nearly yelled, his voice echoing from the stone walls of the tunnel, "God I hate him!"  
  
Seifer nodded, his eyes blazing with an ethereal light the fury had given him, " Ditto."  
  
'So how are we going to get out of here and save the GFs without getting ourselves killed?" Raven asked, looking at Seifer and Squall.  
  
"I don't know." Seifer smiled, "Let's improv." Then he slipped out the door. Squall raised his eyebrows toward Raven, shrugged and followed the blond out he door.  
  
"Fuck" Raven whispered, to herself, "These people are fucking insane." But she followed anyway. 


	4. Savior

Savior  
  
Seifer grabbed the GF stones for Shiva and Eden and tossed them toward Raven who grabbed the light blue and purple spheres and unchaining them, called them back into the spheres. Then she did Quetzacoatl and Diablos, junctioning them to herself before joining the others who only had to do three.  
  
When they were finished, they left through a door to the left. They didn't encounter anything of significance until the fourth room. In this room there was a man in a long black coat with very long silver hair. There was a pedestal in front of him and upon it sat a pillow with three red spheres on it.  
  
Seifer walked over to the spheres and reached out to pick up one. Then he heard a male voice behind him say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The Bahamuts hate anyone but their master touching them."  
  
Seifer spun around, drawing Hyperion as he heard a steely hiss from behind him as Squall and Raven drew their own weapons. The man, a blond with very spiky hair, leaned against the door frame, a very large sword strapped to his back.  
  
"Who are you?" Seifer asked, Hyperion straight out in front of him, his body vibrating with alertness.  
  
"My name is Cloud Strife." The young man smiled, "And you can put up your weapons now. I'm the one that released you."  
  
Seifer looked at the others and didn't lower his sword, "Where's Genesis?"  
  
"Is that her name?" Cloud smiled, "She's downstairs with my friends Tifa and Red. Is she a friend of yours?"  
  
"Hell no." The three said together then smiled at a private joke, "You captured her," Squall then asked incredulously, "How in the hell did you manage that feat of strength?"  
  
"Yes, we captured her. All in all, it was quite easy to do. We had expected her to be harder. So, now, what are your names?"  
  
Seifer looked at Raven who shrugged. Seifer then lowered his weapon but didn't put it away. "I am Seifer Almasy, This is Raven Darkwolf and that's Squall Leonhart." He said gesturing accordingly, "Now, who is that."  
  
Cloud smiled sadly, "His name is Sephiroth." he said, looking at the silver haired man, "He's an Ancient, the last of the Cetra, made from the cells of Jenova. Genesis captured him not long before she was locked up at Atrina to study his cells and find out how he can live so long and have so much power." He stopped, raising his eyebrows, "You were the ones that captured her?"  
  
Seifer nodded but it was Raven who answered, "Genesis is what they call a Sorceress on their world. She nearly destroyed their world before we could stop her." Seifer looked at Raven suddenly as she talked, noticing something weird in her voice.  
  
"What's wrong?" Seifer asked lowly.  
  
"I don't know." She looked at Cloud, "I think you should go and check your friends. I think their in trouble."  
  
Cloud nodded, trusting her, and left down a flight of stairs to the right. At the bottom was a door. Cloud unsheathed his Buster sword, nodding to the trio behind him who also unsheathed their weapons, and went through the door. When they all got inside, they saw Genesis floating four feet off the floor in the center of the room, a snarl of contempt on her face. A brown haired girl and a big red dog thing were splayed unconscious of the floor in front of her.  
  
"Genesis!" Squall shouted, his voice vibrating through the magic filled air as it bounced off the stone walls.  
  
"Squall, my love," Genesis purred, smiling a teeth baring smile "You wanna be my knight?"  
  
Squall backed up, Leonhart straight out in front of him, pointed at the floating Sorceress. His face held a look of a man scared to death. Seifer watched him avoid her compulsion to join her now. "No!" Squall shouted, "I hate you!"  
  
Gen's face contorted from beauty to beast in record time. "Then die." She said firmly and unleashed Odin. Before the powerful Summon reached them, Raven looked at Seifer in puzzlement, surprise and fear. He clutched her and whispered, "I love you."


	5. Universe

Universe   
  
  
They floated in a bright white light. No feelings entered and none left. They were content.  
  
Welcome.  
  
One of them, a blond in a white trench coat glanced around, Huh?  
  
Don't worry, your safe now.  
  
Where are we? Asked the dog thing.  
  
You have entered the Lifestream.  
  
The spiky haired blond man looked around in horror, The Lifestream? But that's green. Not white.  
  
Do not fear, Soldier. This is but a branch of the Lifestream, one that protects instead of hurts you. No Mako poisoning will come of this visit.  
  
A man walked through the whiteness, a man with a long black coat and long sliver hair. His aqua eyes burned with an inner fire as he looked upon the seven people.  
  
Sephiroth!! the dog thing growled.  
  
Yes, Nanaki. Said Sephiroth, Trust me, I bring you no harm. Then he looked at the Balamb group, I bring you no harm either.  
  
How did we get here?The white haired female asked.  
  
I brought you here, Wolfling, to protect you from Sorceress Genesis who controls the summons from our world.  
  
How do we get back? The dark haired man asked.  
  
Patience, Knight of the Sorceress, You will be returned. All in good time. Sephiroth said, and suddenly they were again in the room with the Bahamuts. 


	6. Return

Return  
  
Cloud opened his eyes and watched as Seifer and Raven talked. They were looking at Sephiroth and Cloud thought they were trying to release him from the tube. They were holding hands while they discussed the crazy circumstances. Then Squall joined them.  
  
At about that time Tifa and Red came over to Cloud. "That is one crazy bunch of people." Tifa said, squatting down beside Cloud and Red.  
  
"You aren't tellin' me nothin'." Cloud said, "But what did Sephiroth mean by 'Wolfling'?"  
  
"Absolutely no idea." Tifa replied, then he looked at red, "What about you? Sense anything?"  
  
"She's very drawing, almost like deep down inside, she feels like an animal." Red watched Raven, 'I don't know."  
  
"That's kinda confusing." Tifa remarked dryly.  
  
"Well, lets get what we came for and get out of here. These people are nuts." Cloud said standing.  
  
*  
  
Seifer and raven were looking at the guy that the other people called Sephiroth. Seifer was annoyed with them. For one they had given Gen the means to escape them and two they were just too damn weird.  
  
And why was this guy's name the same as his middle one? Nothing about any of them seemed right so why did he trust them? Then Squall came up to them and asked, "Can we go? We have to find Genesis."  
  
Seifer watched him, remembering what that Sephiroth guy had called him in the Lifestream. Then he wondered why. Was he a spy for Genesis or did he really truly hate her. Seifer sighed and shook his head, "No; we have to stay here. They may need our help." He gestured with his free hand to the conferencing group.   
  
Squall's grayish blue eyes slitted in anger, "You don't even fucking know these people. They may be lying to you about their hatred toward Genesis." Seifer smiled to himself at that statement and how much it reflected his earlier thoughts. And that gesture angered Squall even more. "And you could be walking into a fucking trap. God how stupid could you be?"  
  
Before Seifer could answer in anger, Cloud stood up and walked over toward them, "We're not leading you into a trap. We really do need your help. Right now, Sephiroth is trapped in that tank and we can't get him out alone;" Cloud's friends walked up behind him, "Please."  
  
Seifer looked at Raven, then Squall, "Okay," He said, "Why not." 


	7. Order

Order  
  
"...Sephiroth, the real Sephiroth, died eight years ago. then a new Sephiroth showed up and went after his mother, Jenova, who was a Cetra. The second Sephiroth was a clone created by Shinra with cells of Jenova. For a while, Sephiroth had Cloud convinced that he was a failed Jenova clone." Red smiled, "It was rather entertaining, to say the least."  
  
Raven nodded, "Sounds like what happened to Seifer after i met him the first time. The sorceress before Genesis, Edea, took him over with magic and made him do terrible things." Raven shivered, "I'm so glad he's not evil anymore. I hated seeing him after that."  
  
Red gazed at her, "You two are very close?"  
  
"Yeah." Raven smiled, "We're married."   
  
"And he knows, and accepts your inner beast?" He asked, grinning his animal grin, "Everything about it?"  
  
'Yeah. I don't know if he realizes it but he knows." raven replied, brushing her white hair from her eyes and watching Seifer work with Cloud, Tifa and Squall try to unleash Sephiroth. "Red," She asked, "What are those balls in front of Sephiroth? I'm confused."  
  
"Bahamut, Neo Bahamut and Bahamut Zero." He answered, "Very powerful summons." Then he looked again, "Uh, but their out of order." He loped over to the trio, "Hey, Cloud, the Bahamuts are out of order."  
  
Cloud gazed down at them, "Yeah, but the middle one isn't a Bahamut. Its Phoenix." He picked up Phoenix and put Neo Bahamut in its place. Then he turned and asked, "Whose got Zero?"  
  
"I think Barrett does." Tifa said, brushing her bangs from her eyes, "I seem to remember giving it to him after the last Weapon."  
  
"No, Barrett loaned it to me and I gave it to Vincent." Red said, loping up to them followed by Raven, "He said he'd give it back to me when we got back to Midgar."   
  
Cloud smiled and pulled out a little box and hit the button marked Vincent. Suddenly a man in a tattered red cloak was standing before him. "Vincent, "Cloud said, I need Bahamut Zero."  
  
The man pulled out another red ball and handed it to Cloud who intern handed him Phoenix. Cloud reached over and put Zero in its appropriate place at the end of the Bahamut line. A silvery button mysteriously appeared and Cloud pushed it. The tank emptied and Sephiroth opened his aqua eyes.  
  
"Seph?" Cloud asked, going up to him.  
  
"Took you long enough." Sephiroth replied, smiling and embraced the spiky haired man with tears in his eyes. 


	8. Change

Change  
  
Once they had Sephiroth, they all left the castle of Genesis without any hassles from Gen or her bad magic. Outside, they said goodbye to each other and the Balamb group went toward an open area and used the map. the map showed them that they were about 20 miles past Ifrit's cave.  
  
They started walking and soon Raven began lagging behind. Squall ran back to see what was wrong with her because Seifer was watching the map and couldn't be bothered.  
  
"You okay?" Squall asked her, touching her arm. When he did, he flinched, feeling a kind of heat radiating off of her. Then he told her, "i think you have a fever."  
  
Raven smiled, "I don't have a fever. I'm perfectly fine." Her eyes, he noticed, were slowly changing to a golden yellow color., "Really."  
  
Squall looked unconvinced, "Maybe I should go get Seifer." He started walking Seifer when a gremlin thing jumped out of the forest and slashed him across the face. Seifer turned just in time to see Squall slash at it, scaring it off.  
  
"Oh shit." He murmured, drawing Hyperion and running toward Squall. Another monster came up behind Squall and Squall killed it with Firaga.  
  
"Where's Raven?" He asked when he got to Squall. The dark haired boy had cuts all over him, blood ran down his face and hands and there were cuts in his leather airman's coat due to the fact that the tiny gremlin like creatures had sharper claws than the gunblade he held in his bloody hand.  
  
"Somewhere back there." Squall said, pointing back toward the trees, "That's where I left her."  
  
Seifer's face took on a look of something Squall couldn't name and took off running in the direction that Squall had pointed. There he saw her in the center of a clearing, surrounded by the gremlin creatures. He could tell that she was tiring quickly and was low on curative magics. He ran into the fight, using his magic to blast away the little demons.  
  
"Their like rodents! They keep coming!" Raven shouted over the noise of the spells, wiping blood from her face and drawing Seifer's eyes to hers, which were now their full golden yellow wolf color.  
  
"Babe! Your changing!" he shouted back, blowing some of the gremlins away.  
  
"I know," She replied as the rest of the creatures, scared of the magic and the furious attacking from the humans and scampered off. "And Squall saw. Or at least, my eyes."  
  
Seifer reached over and pulled her to him, hugging her close, "I doubt he'll care. I think he likes you." He said grumpily, using his last Curaga on both of them.  
  
"Why Seifer, are you jealous?" Raven said, kissing his neck.  
  
He shivered and replied, "Uh, yeah. I'm jealous of anyone who would merit your love." Then he grinned wickedly and she blushed, "Except for me, of course."  
  
Still red, she said to him, "Why do you smile like that. You know your a sexy mo-fo already. The smile puts it over the top."  
  
Seifer smiled to himself, watching his flirting work in changing her eyes back to the regular deep violet. "Now let's go save puberty-boy from the big bad gremlins. We can finish this later" He said, grinning his wicked grin.  
  
Raven blushed again, hiding her face against his chest. The she lifted her head, kissed him harder and they ran off toward the sounds of battle to help Squall. When they arrived, though, they saw that Squall, even though he was cut up pretty good, was winning the battle.   
  
Seifer, with a sadistic smirk that let the old Seifer peek out, sat on a rock and watched. Raven, on the other hand, after giving Seifer a reproaching look, periodically drew Curaga and Thundaga from the little monsters.  
  
Squall eventually defeated the last one and sent the rest packing in terror, then turned to face Seifer's sadistic amusement with a fury quite unknown to the dark haired boy. "Why the fuck didn't you help me?" He asked, striding over to Seifer, "I could've been killed!"  
  
Seifer stood, his anger think enough to choke on and swaggered toward Squall, "Nah. Unfortunately your luck is better than that."  
  
They stopped about two feet from each other, "Fuck, Seifer, I thought you said that you'd put that behind you." Squall took another step toward Seifer and Raven stepped in, putting a hand on each chest, each partially naked chest. When she did her already heightened animalistic senses were kicked into overdrive.   
  
She sensed their hatred, like a cavern that connected deep within their souls. But under the hatred was an uncertainty and a kind of... A kind of hidden memory that when she even thought about it, it opened up before her like the petals of some celestial flower. It went back years, even before the Sorceress Edea incident, way back to Matron and her cottage on the seashore. It seemed to be scented with many emotions, once again like flowers opening before her. Anxiety. Lust. Arousal. Then, like a hidden being, the first release of innocence and looking into brown eyes, or aqua eyes, and feeling the love that flooded from them.   
  
She stumble, overwhelmed with what she had seen. She felt the emotions that raged within her head coax the animal in her to the surface and her teeth and eyes change in an instant. She backed away, still feeling the hatred that perfumed the air.  
  
"Raven? Babe? You okay?" Seifer asked, an edge in his voice.   
  
She pushed away from the tree and opened her eyes. Squall gasped and backed away. Seifer on the other hand, came over to her, "Ra? Can you hear me?"  
  
"When I get back, we are going to talk about a lot of things." Her words ended in an inhuman growl and she turned and ran into the woods, a howl flickering over the still dusk air, bring chill bumps up on the exposed skin of Seifer and Squall that had nothing to do with the cold. 


	9. Memories

Memories  
  
Seifer was waiting for her when Raven walked naked out of the forest, her naked blade in her hands. He quickly helped her into his white trench and they walked into the Garden, not speaking.   
  
When they reached their room, Squall's door was open and they could see him lying on his bed without a shirt on, reading a book about the gods of Earth. Raven felt a twinge because she had given it to him for Christmas but obviously Squall was still the unfeeling jerk ((put in by author. *grin*)) that he had been the first time they'd met because he got up and closed his door, only meeting their eyes once.  
  
Seifer unlocked his door and let Raven go first, entering the room that they shared. She leaned her sword by the spare sheath and took off the trench, lying it across the bed. Then she reached for clothes but before she could get any, Seifer grabbed her wrists and kissing her fingers, pulled her to him.  
  
"Whats wrong, Ra?" Seifer asked, looking into her swirled violet and gold eyes.  
  
Raven shivered, remembering what she had felt and drew her hands away, excited at the thought of the two guys in her life that she cared so much about were together at one time. She dressed silently in leather pants and boots and a black halter top and left, grabbing her sword and sheathing it as she exited.   
  
She met Squall outside who was putting on his ripped airman's coat and sheathing his gunblade. They looked at each other for a second and when he turned to lock his door she left toward the training area the forgetting of the thoughts that chased her like one of her cousin Hades' hellhounds.  
  
*  
  
She had been in the training area for quite some time, defeating anything that was so unfortunate as to cross her path when Zell showed up. She had sat down to rest for a moment , leaning against one of the many security fences with her sword laying beside her and her head was on her arm that was laid across her right leg.  
  
"Raven?" Zell said, kneeling beside her, "You okay?"  
  
She looked up at him, wiping tears away, "Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Really? You don't look fine. Did Seifer do something to you?"  
  
"No." She said, sighing through the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, "today I caught some of his memories that he had forgotten and..." She wiped her hand across her eyes in exhaustion, "And now I whish I hadn't. I'm so tired..."   
  
"Why would he forget?" Zell asked.  
  
"Those infernal GFs!" Se replied savagely, her anger fueling her tears; "They destroy the memories that you should have for life." Then she giggles through her tears, "Or at least the ones you should pay hundreds of dollars to a licensed professional to get through."  
  
Zell's eyebrows raised in wonderment, "Listen, you've been through a lot lately. Maybe you should go get some sleep." Then he looked at her stricken face and turned, seeing Seifer standing behind him, watching with intent aqua eyes. Zell looked at Raven, "Just talk to him. It hurts everyone to see you guys fight. We all know how much you guys love each other."  
  
Raven was speechless and Zell grinned, "Once in a lifetime you don't have anything to say. Good luck." He whispered to her and kissed her cheek before leaving her to Seifer.  
  
Seifer walked over slowly as she laid her head back on her arm. He kneeled in front of her, lying a hand on her arm, his eyes shadowed with emotion, "What would I not remember?"  
  
"Nothing. Just go away. It doesn't matter. hell, i don't know why it bothers me so much." She sighed a deep, heartbreaking sigh, "It really shouldn't though. I'll bet neither one of you remembers it."  
  
"Both? both who?" he looked curious and discontent at the same time.  
  
"Just go away!" She said louder than intended, standing and pushing him away. then she stumbled and before Seifer could move to catch her, she fell in a puddle of monster blood, it splashing up along her arms and covering her pants and hands as she tried to catch herself. Big crocodile tears ran down her face as she cried a broken-hearted cry.  
  
Seifer was shocked. Never, in all the time he had known Raven, had acted like this. She was crying like pieces of her heart were leaking out through her tears. "Ra!" He said, "Whats wrong, honey? Whats wrong?"  
  
She cried for the longest as Seifer held her. Then a noise alerted him to someone's presence. He turned seeing Squall, covered with blood, watching with heated eyes. Raven shuddered against him and when he looked down, he could see something in her eyes that excited him.  
  
A scared look crossed her face and she pushed away. "That's the problem, Seifer. I don't know what it is but I can't control myself. I am so sexually charged at the moment..." She looked at Squall and then back at Seifer, "Even memories long forgotten excite me. That's why I have to go away for a while. Only to find out what's going on and to see if I can fix it."  
  
She kissed him and ran faster than he had ever seen her run in her life. And she never looked back. 


	10. Resonance

Disc. I don't own the FF VIII characters. Squaresoft does. I do own Raven tho. Julie owns Genesis. I wish i owned Seifer. that would make my life so much better. *grin* Review.  
  
Resonance  
  
"So she left this morning?" Squall asked Seifer who looked absolutely terrible.  
  
'Yeah. and I have no idea why." He rested his aching head in his hands, "She said something about something that two people did a long time ago. Problem is I've either blocked it out or the GFs made me forget it."  
  
Squall patted Seifer's back, unconsciously, and Seifer looked up at him who was staring off into space, "Uh, dude, what th' fuck are you doing?" He asked.  
  
"Thinking." Squall replied, still rubbing Seifer's back.   
  
"Well, don't tough me to think. Its creepy." Seifer reached up to move his hand but when they touched the memories came floating back unbidden.  
  
Memories of warm summer days at the cottage by the sea floated through their minds of days that they swam in the surf and nights when they told ghost stories around the bonfires that they had set on the beach to scare the other children in Edea's care. Then memories of them being older and exploring their budding sexualities before Seifer was sent to the Garden a couple of years before Squall.  
  
Seifer pulled his hand back, his whole body shaking. His mind filled with unwanted events, unwanted memories. He backed away. then he looked at Squall. His eyes were wide in panic.  
  
The Squall stood slowly. "What the FUCK was that!"   
  
Seifer backed against the door, "How the hell should I know." He could tell that Squall had felt what he had felt too and it somehow excited him. Squall stalked toward him, his eyes hooded with lust.   
  
Squall watched as Seifer stood there, his eyes wide with a deer in the headlights look. Then he said in a low throbbing voice, " I'm glad I've felt this way before. At least now I don't have to hide it." He also knew that Seifer was feeling the same way. his entire body said so.  
  
He kissed Seifer chastely and felt the blond man's arms encircle his neck. That was all the assurance he needed. He kissed those soft lips harder and felt Seifer kiss him back. Then Seifer realized that he had reacted and pushed Squall away, ever so gently. "No." He said, as if it explained everything.   
  
Squall smiled, a smirk that spoke volumes.  
  
"I have to find Raven. I love her." Seifer wiped his lips unconsciously, still tasting the forbidden fruit of his and Squall's kiss. Squall nodded, feeling kind of foolish. Of course, Seifer loved Raven. Who in their right mind wouldn't.   
  
Then the brunette nodded, "well, go find her." He gazed around, trying to cover the feelings he had unwittingly unleashed in the room, wraiths that would forever more go unsatisfied, looking for his jacket. "Shall we?"  
  
Seifer nodded and Squall smiled suddenly, making the blond feel tingly all over, "Are you going to move? Your blocking the door."  
  
Seifer nodded again, grinning like a fool, then he moved away from the door and closer to Squall. The air was so thick with sexual tension a person could stand on it. Seifer tried to speak, to break it somehow, but nothing came out. Squall smiled brightly and Seifer grunted sarcastically and walked out the door, Squall following close behind.  
  
~*~   
  
did you like it? Well, then review it. and if you didnt, review it anyway.  
  
thanks 


	11. Presence

Author Note: Hey, look, its chapter eleven! Wow. You mean its actually been written? Well, where has it been? Heh. Wouldn't you like to know. Yeah, im talking to my self.

**Presence**

Raven drove her silver Jaguar through the dawn kissed streets of LA Her goal was to get to her home in the hills and relax, trying her hardest to forget the way she felt about Seifer and the touches she remembered, the very taste of each man, silky and spicy on the back of her tongue. The feel of flesh on flesh, clothing against bare flesh…

"Stop remembering, Ra. It will just hurt worse." She mumbled to herself, steering the machine with relative ease. Then the gates to her estate came into view. The curling beaten silver over wrought iron gates seemed to beckon to her like a long lost friend. She breathed in a sigh of longing as she pushed in the access code and watched the gates open slowly. At least now that she was home she could, or at least try to, escape the memories of Seifer and Squall.

She parked the car in the driveway and proceeded up the steps to the foyer where she laid her coat over the mahogany banister of a large black marble staircase. She then went up the stairs, her heels clanking with every step, toward her room. There she opened the door and walked toward the master bath, peeling off her clothes. She started the bath, adding several capfuls of bubbles then went into her bedroom for something to wear afterwards.

"Well, hello, luscious. Nice vacation?" Came a sarcastic voice from behind her. She whirled around to face Ares in all his sexual glory. He lay sprawled across her bed decked out in leather. She felt her face grow hot as she stooped to pick up the towel that she just dropped.

"Why can't you go away or die or fall into some bottomless pit somewhere and leave me with a bit of peace?" She securely twisted the towel around her and walked over to the window, opening it and letting in the breeze through the evergreen trees. The scents of pine and spruce cleared the room of wraith-like memories, leaving only on bothersome task before her. She turned to Ares, "Leave. Now."

"But what if I don't want to. I kind of like the view." She felt his eyes graze her naked flesh like silk and shivered. She knew if she let him do this to her, if she let her lust overplay her common sense, then it would be over. She would go to him willingly and that couldn't happen. She turned and went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of shorts and a white tank top and walked back into the bathroom throwing the words, "You had better be gone when I get out" after her.

Ares watched her close the door and remembered the effects of his simple look. He walked to her bedroom door to do as she asked but thought better of it. He slowly opened her bathroom door and walked into a cloud of jasmine, rose and Beethoven. And, to his astonishment, the sound of sobs.

Raven never cried. Was there someone else in there with her? He looked around. No one was present. Only Raven, slumped against the marble of her bathtub, crying huge crocodile tears. "Ra?" he said, quietly, walking toward her slowly. She turned around, a look of shock and disgust on her face. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"You wouldn't care. You'd probably be happy." She turned away, climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel. "Just go away."

Ares turned to oblige her request and her tears came harder. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, sobbing. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Tell me what's going on. Maybe I can help. Is it something with you and Seifer?" Then there was anger in his voice, "Did he hurt you?"

"No, nothing like that. It's…" she stopped and raised up away from him. "I felt something between them and it scared me. Something that I had never known or even would have guessed. And it scared me. So I ran away. I ran back here to hide and lick my wounds. I'm so stupid." Then she realized that she was naked and a blush came over her cheeks. "Oops."

Ares grinned a wicked, war god grin and said, "It aynt bothering me. I kind of like the fact you've become a nudist. Brings spice to this lonely home." Raven tried to pull away but Ares held her close and his expression turned serious. "Don't leave me. I've wanted this for so long."

Raven could hear the longing in his voice, could almost feel the loneliness of the nights he had lived without her. He pulled her into a kiss, a kiss like none she had shared with Seifer. Long and full of probing tongues, a kiss to last forever. She slumped against him.

"We cant do this. Please, please don't tempt me. I cant deal with this now. I cant take it." She slid down his body to sit at his feet on the lost towel. She pulled it around her as Ares knelt to sit beside her.

"I'm sorry, love. That was wrong of me." A grin played along his lips, "Fun though. But wrong. I'll be a perfect gentleman until you feel better." Raven laughed and Ares echoed, "So, you feel better?"

"Kinda, yeah. Thanks bro. I knew there was a reason to keep you alive all those years."

"Heh. That's always good news." Raven stood and searched around for the now very elusive towel Ares had hidden under the bed. When she couldn't find it, she stood up and groaned.

"You okay?" Ares asked with what seemed like real concern trailing across his face.

"I think so." Raven said from the bathroom where her clothing had been left. She came out a few minutes later wearing the denim cutoffs and the white tank top. "Maybe I just need to forget about Seifer for a while. Maybe I need a vacation from Balamb Garden and that whole life there." She looked at Ares, "What do you think?"

Ares strided to her and pulled her to him, breathing the clean scent of her hair, the arousing fragrance of her skin, her dark violet eyes holding surprise and longing, "I need you, I want you, stay with me. That's what I think."

"But I…"

"But what? What do you have left with that man. You have no children, you aren't happy." His words scalded with frustration, "How can I make you see?"

Raven gazed up into his dark brown eyes, so full of passion and surprisingly, truth to the words that were just spoken. "I have to go back. I have to. Were married. We belong together. No matter what you and Draco are to me, we belong together. Just because we have fights doesn't mean that we shouldn't be together anymore. I cant…" He could visibly see her walls rebuilding, the love for him that had been revealed less than five minutes ago, pushed back into the darkness and the pain that was her life. He knew what she was going to say.

You should probably go. I cant take the temptation. I am in love with someone else and its not you. You no longer have that part of my life. Go.

But, that's not what transpired. Raven, tears cascading down her cheeks, her eyes bright with pain, whispered, "I need you. I don't know why but I need you in my life. Your like a balance, a part of me that I cant ignore that holds me into reality when Balamb seems so much like a dream. I love you Ares. I always will. But I cant _**love**_ you anymore. Do you understand?"

Ares nodded. "I understand, sweetheart. I understand completely. You're a one man kinda gal. That's all there is to it. When your with Seifer, neither me nor Draco has a chance." He pulled her to him, holding her against him with the tenderness of someone who held a love so deep it was a life's pursuit. "But please," He pleaded, "please don't push us away."

Finally Raven could see what Ares was asking. To remove herself from the land of Balamb, if not forever, a while so that she could think about all the things that she had to remember, to forget, and especially, to decide upon. But what was there to decide? She knew what she had to do. The only problem was that she was in love with three men who each held a part of her soul. What was a girl to do in times like these?


	12. Pleading

Pleading

Seifer and squall landed in L.A. and caught a cab up to Raven's house in the hills. Seifer looked out the window and thought about how dark it was here and how the darkness seemed to feed his melancholy feelings instead of settling them down.

"It sure is dark here, isn't it?" Squall said, echoing the blond man's thoughts. Seifer looked at Squall, a hateful look crossing his face. But Squall seemed unfazed.

Maybe this is how love is supposed to feel? Squall thought, not feeling angry at all at the blond, maybe that's how Seifer seemed to change so much. maybe love controls anger

"I swear to fucking god that if we see Ares, I am going to rip his fucking head off." Seifer said with heat enough to burn a forest to powder.

"Breathe, Seifer. When we find Raven, we can all go home. Just remember, you guys still have the SeeD test coming up."

Seifer sighed and thought, if she wants to come back, you mean.

They had reached her house and paid the cab driver before really looking at it.

"Have you ever been here before?" Squall asked, his eyes wide at the immense home before him. "She must be loaded or something."

Seifer smiled, "Yeah, or something." That something is what bothered him. He could make a pretty good living with a high SeeD level but he could never afford something like this. What did he have to offer her? "You know, maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Squall brushed it off, "Of course this was a good idea. What in the hell… how do you think the Garden will be without her there? Do you think that it will be light and happy and kind without her there?" Squall turned and gripped the blond man's arm, "Do you really think that you would be happy with out here there? Everyone in the Garden, all our friends included, are hardened by constant battling and sparing. But Raven, she can be hard if she has to but that's not how she is." How could he make Seifer see that this is what must happen?

"Look Squall, I appreciate the pep rally, I really do but that doesn't change the fact of what we did. That doesn't change the fact that those memories will always be there and she will always know…" He carried off and looked up at the house, "I don't know if I could intentionally hurt her again. And that's just how it is."

Squall walked off, "Son of a fucking bitch!"

Seifer drew back, 'What in the hell?"

"You are wasting everything you have with her! You're giving up everything because you don't think she can deal! She is so much stronger than that. Give her a fucking chance."

The door opened and Raven stood there, looking down at the two men from the high porch, "Well, if you're going to yell about me you might as well yell about me to my face instead of in my front yard."

Wow, two chapters in a week. I'm on a ball now. Review please.


	13. Indecision

Author's Note: Raven is mine, Gen is mine, anyone you recognize belongs to someone else. Thank you very very much. Please review. LS

Indecision

Seifer watched Raven walk around the table in front of him and Squall and wanted to grab her and haul her off to some darkened bedroom. He wanted to hold her forever and never let her go. But he stayed where he sat and tried to be content with watching her move in that bit of silk she wore under her robe. He watched her hair, untied and falling to her feet, sway against her skin, caressing her curves and allowing only so much to be revealed. He watched her with heavy lidded eyes and tried to keep his libido in control. They were here to talk, not to do…

"Seifer?" Squall asked, a small smile on his face, "Are you listening to anything that she said?"

A pink flush tinted raven's face, "No, of course not, he's watching me move." She sighed, "Let me remove that temptation for you."

She sat in a chair across from them and curled her feet underneath her. She looked at Seifer from beneath her long hair and he smiled. She can't keep her eyes off of me either, he thought. And after that one look from raven, he was content. Even if he had to leave her behind tonight, he would always know she thought about him and was as attracted to him as he was to her.

But he didn't want to sit here forever and watch her. He wanted her to be with her, he wanted to love her, to caress her, to do other little naughty acts with her.

"I guess I'm just going to come out and ask this since… alright, since I just want to be nosy." Squall said looking at Seifer who looked annoyed at being pulled out of his wet daydream.

Raven looked daggers at Squall, "You know what? Fine. If you really want to get into this I'll tell you." Raven took a deep breath and sighed, "I ran away not because I couldn't stand the thought of you two together but because I wanted it. I wanted to be the third of your little love affair. No matter that it happened years and years ago, I wanted it to happen again. I wanted to be with both of you." She shivered and both men could see her eyes darkening under her veil of white hair. "Maybe that thought doesn't scare you but it does me." She shook her hair back and sighed, "That's not what I mean. What I mean is…" She stopped and searched for the words, "What I mean is that not being scared of it scares me..."

She stopped and noticed Seifer and Squall's faces as they looked at each other.

Squall spoke first, "That thought doesn't bother me in the slightest." He looked at Seifer who nodded, "Me either."

Raven started laughing, a slightly uncontrolled laughter, "What the fuck is going on here?"

"We're agreeing with you, love." Squall said with a dark and libido drenched smile.

"Look, if you had seen what I had seen…" Seifer cut her off, " But we did see it. We remembered after you left. And the thought doesn't scare either of us. We both love you, raven. And if you want us to go, we'll go. If you want us to stay, we'll stay. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Raven's face was marked with indecision. "I don't know what to do. All I know is I'm tired and now that Ares is gone, I can finally get to sleep."


	14. Panic

Disclaimer: You know whose mine and whose not even though I wish. Lol. Read and review

14- Panic

Raven tried her best to sleep that night but to her dismay it kept eluding her and replacing itself with images of naked skin and kiss-swollen lips.

"Ye gods in heaven." She murmured and punched her pillow as she turned over and straight into the face of Seifer.

"What the…" Was all she could get out before he pulled her to him and kissed her roughly. She started to pull away and then felt another body against her and a hand slide around her waist.

"Don't panic." Squall whispered into her ear. "If you feel uncomfortable we'll leave and forget about all of this."

Raven turned away from Seifer and wrapped her arms around Squall, "Im perfectly fine." She kissed him as Seifer slid her nightgown up around her thighs. "This is what I want."

*

Raven woke up with her arm across Seifer's chest and Squall pressed against her. As she was remembering the night before, Seifer squirmed underneath her arm making her memories come alive and she writhed against him. He opened his eyes and smirked as though he could read her thoughts. She frowned and pushed herself from between then and walked toward the bathroom.

She splashed water on her face and tried to tame her calf length hair but finally gave up and took a shower. As she brushed a cloth down her skin she shivered again. She was worried that this one time of temptation would become a permanent thing and she really wasn't sure if she wanted that to happen.

She toweled off and pulled her clothes on and then reached into the drawer for her brush, bumping a green cloth bag. She opened it out of habit and gasped.

Somehow, with everything that had gone on in that past couple of days, she had forgotten to take her pill.

"Holy Mother." She sighed. "This is wonderful. Freaking wonderful."


	15. Revelations

Disclaimer: The ones you know arent mine the ones you don't are. Read and review.

Revelations

8 weeks later…

"Oh god Seifer, move." Raven put a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom making it just in time to throw up.

"Babe, Im telling you, you need to go see the medic. You've been throwing up every morning for nearly a month now and I think that maybe you have the flu or something." Seifer handed her a washcloth to wipe her face with and helped her out of the floor.

"Fine, Ill go. Let me just lay down for a little while." Raven sighed, "Im really tired."

*

Later that day they sat in the medic's office of Balamb Garden waiting to see what she had. She had already seen the doctor and was waiting for her test results. They had taken blood which made her almost want to throw up again, checked her temp, and done a bunch of other stuff for which she zoned out.

She was just so tired anymore. Even now, she had her head laid on Seifer's shoulder, her eyes closed and almost asleep.

Then a door closed and startled her.

"Mrs. Almasy." The nurse said, calling her back to see the doctor again and to get her results.

They sat in the little room for a few minutes before the doctor came in with her file.

"Mr. Almasy, Mrs. Almasy, I have your results back," He said, opening the file and reading it, "First of all I would like to say your perfectly healthy. Your iron is great, your cholesterol is excellent, everything looks good."

Seifer interrupted, "Then what's wrong with her. Why is she throwing up?"

"Im getting to that." the doctor then smiled and said, "Congratulations, your pregnant."

"Holy fuck!" Seifer said, his eyes getting huge, "Did you just say pregnant? Like with child pregnant?"

"Yes with child pregnant."

"How far along am I?" Raven asked, shock shooting through her mind and into her voice.

"Our estimation on the information that we have is about eight weeks, give or take a few days.:

Seifer and Raven looked at each other with wide eyes. They both remembered where they were 8 weeks ago.

"If you will lie down on the table, we'll see if we can get a heartbeat. We might not, with the short time of the pregnancy, but we'll see."

Raven went to the table, laid down and raised her shirt so that the doc could squirt some cold gel on her belly and use a little wand to check. He moved it around and smiled at the noises that were issued from the machine.

"There's the heartbeat. Its very strong, about 140 beats per minute. That's very good." Then his eyes creased at the noise changed and said, "Hmmm. There's another."

"There's another what?" Seifer asked grasping Ravens hand in his.

"There's another heartbeat. I think your having twins


End file.
